Adventure Game Studio

Creative Production => Critics' Lounge => Topic started by: Federikazzo on Sat 15/01/2005 01:50:19

Title: first shot of my game...
Post by: Federikazzo on Sat 15/01/2005 01:50:19
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/001.jpg)

here's a shot from the game i'm working on. don't care about the gui... i'm going to change it as soon as possible!
so... what do you think? any suggestion/critic is welcome... you'll get more shots soon!
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: spoofer4ever on Sat 15/01/2005 02:45:33
First of all, great job with the bg, I like your lighting, but it may be a lil to 'gloomy for me, :-\ but thats just me. What did you use for your backgrounds anywho?
Are you gonna end up making a translation, because im sure lots of people will be eagre to play this. I know i am .  :)
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Mr_Frisby on Sat 15/01/2005 02:52:15
This is nice - but it looks familiar?
Also - The character seems a little small for the room.

If I am wrong and you actually painted this bkg by hand then kudos to youdos - Its excellent - but Ã, . .it does seem to look a little familar.

Your character looks really nice but I am not certain that it is the right size - maybe if it were 4 or 5 five pixels bigger?
his colours are good though. I also like the inventory items.
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Phemar on Sat 15/01/2005 07:13:08

Could you put it in gif please, I can't really see anything with the bad quality of this jpg...
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Barbarian on Sat 15/01/2005 07:21:18
Room's a bit "dark", but that may be the look/feel you're going for there.  But, yeah, overall it looks really nice. Keep up the good work.
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Krazy on Sat 15/01/2005 09:11:17
Quote from: Zor on Sat 15/01/2005 07:13:08

Could you put it in gif please, I can't really see anything with the bad quality of this jpg...

I think it's just the resoloution of the picture. Looks good!
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Bombadil on Sat 15/01/2005 10:09:09
As said before...
Looks cool, maybe a bit dark.

Btw, I don't think the character should be bigger or shorter...
And I like the GUI [maybe a bit bright if the game's gonna have a dark envirorment].

I'm looking forward to this...
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Krazy on Sat 15/01/2005 10:27:17
What brightness is your monitor on? I don't think it looks too dark or too light just right I think.
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Federikazzo on Sat 15/01/2005 12:33:33
 :o first of all, thank you guys! ;D

i've made the background using unrealed, then it was retouched and i've added some elements using paint shop pro.
about the lightness... yes, i thought it could be too dark, but you should see it in fullscreen: it looks better IMO. i could anyways add a little bit of contrast.. dunno :)
about the size of the character... well, it's just a temporary one!
i'm not a talented character designer, so i've made it "overwriting" the indiana jones walking cycle.
here are 2 more pics:

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/002.jpg)
this is the street you will reach when you go out of the apartment you've see above. it's a beta version... it must be "enriched" and retouched A LOT!

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/003.jpg)
this is an "hidden" room... it is absolutely useless at the moment, because it will contain a dialogue between 2 people...

---

well... i'm gonna upload a pseudo-playable demo (it's about 6 megs... doh!), but it's an old version (it uses the scumm-like gui by poskrito... the gui i'm working on at the moment, contains too many bugs!).

oh... i will translate it in english, before uploading, so wait some minutes!! ;)
bye!
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Tracubetto on Sat 15/01/2005 14:38:19
i like the style of the background, very good, they remember me an old pc adventure game located in a sanitarium.
Go on with your game
Nico
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: InCreator on Sat 15/01/2005 20:25:39
Excuse my language, but...

This is goddamn excellent!

The photorealistic quality of textures made me think that it's some hardcore photo arranging job we have there. But 3D? can't be better!

Low resolution - which comes with bad case of antialiasing - blurs everything down enough to fit hand-drawn characters into the otherwise too sharp and clear 3D scene. If it isn't just crappy JPG compression here, of course.
Though the idea isn't something revolutionary or new, the way it's performed here is clearly the best example I have seen.
The realistic-like character style from Indiana Jones also hits with full effect. Federikazzo somehow managed to overcome most frequent problems when integrating 2D and 3D. If it's because of experience, I can't admire more. If luck -- go get yourself a lottery ticket!
Amazing. For me - especially, since I've tried many times to do something similar and yet, never succeeded enough to be statisfied with result.

Ok, now crits:

* Lights!  The room is too dark, the street has not enough non-natural light sources. But the little room with staircase is perfect, in my opinion.
* Blur! Still try to clean up here and there by hand, because antialiasing isn't very good on very thin objects, such as light (reflection) on room's ceiling, the sign of market at the street, the blurred staircase (blurry focus is a good idea, but still needs a bit cleaning)
* shadows! Make some for street things, such as tree, rail and so on.

You're definelty on right way. Just... save your screenshots as PNG! You can do this in MSPaint, for example. It's pity to see perfect artwork messed up by JPG compression.
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Darth Mandarb on Sun 16/01/2005 00:24:53
This is nice stuff!

My brother makes levels for games like Max Payne and Half Life ... he made some kick ass levels for Counter Strike a few years ago.  He is (or wants to) experiment with making HL2 levels and I told him he should make the levels and render them out and use them in an adventure game!

Good to see somebody else has the same idea!

The long street scene ... the 'Market & Deli' building looks oddly blurred compared to the rest of the detail level ...

As for the rest ... I really like the style.  The touch ups are what sell the deal for me.

Keep it up!
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Kweepa on Sun 16/01/2005 01:18:55
Yup, looks superb!
Could easily be shots from a professional product!
I agree with Mr Frisby that the character looks a bit small in the first shot - windowsills aren't often at shoulder level :)
I'd recommend also rendering the inventory items - the stack of cash looks a bit rough compared to everything else.
Looking forward to an English translation!
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Federikazzo on Sun 16/01/2005 04:18:44
Quote
Could easily be shots from a professional product!
;D it sounds good to me... thanks!

Quote
I agree with Mr Frisby that the character looks a bit small in the first shot - windowsills aren't often at shoulder level
:( i live in italy and i don't know ANYTHING about american apartments... and this is the demostration! ;D

Quote
I'd recommend also rendering the inventory items - the stack of cash looks a bit rough compared to everything else.
i will... that stack of cash was just a drawing test i've made about 3 years ago.. it'll be changed with this:
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Image9.jpg)

Quote
Looking forward to an English translation! 
it'll come VEEEEEEEEEERY soon... just give me the time to translate the short demo i've created and i will upload it.

Quote
The long street scene ... the 'Market & Deli' building looks oddly blurred compared to the rest of the detail level ...
i know, i know... ::) in fact i've said it was a beta test. the final version of the street scene will be redefined and corrected. it contains too many graphic bugs (because of the resizing, of the lightning and some poor quality textures)

Quote
The realistic-like character style from Indiana Jones also hits with full effect. Federikazzo somehow managed to overcome most frequent problems when integrating 2D and 3D. If it's because of experience, I can't admire more. If luck -- go get yourself a lottery ticket!
Amazing. For me - especially, since I've tried many times to do something similar and yet, never succeeded enough to be statisfied with result.
thanks a lot... ;)
but i think i'll need a lot of help for the other chars, because i'm not that good char-designer. i don't even know how i've made it! :o

Quote
* Lights!  The room is too dark, the street has not enough non-natural light sources. But the little room with staircase is perfect, in my opinion.
that DAMN room will be probably re-rendered from scratch, no problem! ;D

Quote
* Blur! Still try to clean up here and there by hand, because antialiasing isn't very good on very thin objects, such as light (reflection) on room's ceiling, the sign of market at the street, the blurred staircase (blurry focus is a good idea, but still needs a bit cleaning)
the problem is that at lowres it is hard to resize and get a good sharp/blur ratio... if you get what i mean! some parts of the images look strange because of the textures, other parts because of the poly-thickness... it's not so easy, but i'll try to correct all this crap! ;)

Quote
* shadows! Make some for street things, such as tree, rail and so on.
ok... the final version will be an eye-candy... i promise! ;D

just for your pleasure, here are three more shots: (one ingame room and two "don't know how to use" backgrounds)

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Image8.jpg)
another room... this time it's a backstreet with a private club entrance door... did i mention that the game will be ambiented in a bronx-like suburb? ;D

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Image33.jpg)
this could be the main menu background... but i'm not sure about it.
note that the STRONG light near the building was the elevated subway train's lights, but it became too strong because of the photoretouching... it'll be corrected soon btw...

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Image2.jpg)
this looks like a kind of "times square" and it could be used for a cutscene (something like "part 3 - the city")... i don't know!  ;D

btw... i'm looking for someone to help me making the characters... does anyone wanna help me? you know what's the style i need, so let me know!
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Xadhoom on Mon 17/01/2005 11:57:47
Looks great. But with the quality of the backgrounds, I can't really see why you make it in VGA. Seems like a shame.
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Necro on Mon 17/01/2005 15:54:01
Yeah , a lot of work must of gone into UnrealEd too , with some nice texture, I did contemplate doing some thing similar at one point , but though "bah it would look crappy" , well you proved me wrong.
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Kweepa on Tue 18/01/2005 00:05:48
Mmmm, proving that the first images aren't flukes  :=

I disagree with Xadhoom that it's a shame these are VGA. I think they add to the realism. Increase the resolution and we'll see the sharp edges, blurred textures, etc. Please keep the low res!

About the latest images, it's a bit odd that there's neon sign above the back door (it is a back door isn't it?); the wall on the left is a clearly tiled; and the black right hand side is a bit empty. Otherwise, awesome!

The two cutscene images are contrasting hues - the first looks like a 1940s colour, the second seems futuristic. No doubt you're on top of that though.

I was just thinking how great this technique will be for objects you can pick up - just render the scene with and without the object, and it fits in perfectly... looking forward to it!

Cheers,
Steve
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Developer on Thu 20/01/2005 09:27:17
I love the way you manipulate these images. :D Great work.
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Gregjazz on Fri 21/01/2005 07:56:55
Ho, man, those are totally sweet pics. Don't listen to what anyone says about making the backgrounds brighter. It's the dark/light contrast that really gives your backgrounds style.

This is some of the best background art I've seen in a long time. I'm peeing my pants in anticipation of your game.

Let me know if you need a musician for your project. :)
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Federikazzo on Wed 02/02/2005 02:17:39
sorry guys for the late answer. :-\

well... thanks for the good comments... i was even going to stop the project cos i thought that the quality of some pics sucked (because of the resolution), but you proved i was wrong! ;)

anyways... here's a pseudo-playable alpha-test useless demo ;D
http://www.federikazzo.net/stats/download.php?id=4

i am sorry, but it is in italian!
but it would be useless to translate it in english cos it's VERY short.

the old gui have been replaced with poskrito's mi2 one: my gui sucked with the newer ags version (and i didn't want to blow up my brain anymore to show a working demo)....

to go out of the room, you have to look at the white thinghie on the bed, then PUSH it and go out... when you're out, you can't do anything but walk....... :-\ kinda useless, isn't it?? ;D

anyways... i am looking for help, so here are my needs:
1) a good musician... i can make music too, but i cannot make music, gfx, code, etc all by myself......
2) a talented character designer... look at the main char to see what kind of sprites i need.
contact me at game@federikazzo.net for more details....

don't answer on this forum... i don't want the moderator to get mad, and i would like to use it to show the progress of the game... unless the mod will close it.Ã,  :o
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Federikazzo on Sun 13/02/2005 21:31:37
uhmmmmmm..... no replies since that last message..
ok... here are 2 more shoots! ;D

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/shot01newroom.jpg)
this is the new version of the first room... i think it looks much better...

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/shot02bar.jpg)
a new location: a lounge bar under his apartment... it should be modified, cos i'm not convinced at all...

let me know what you think...
(i'm still waiting for a character drawer!!! ;D)
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: DoorKnobHandle on Sun 13/02/2005 21:33:45
wow!  :o :o :o

That looks really really good...

The only thing you should consider is to make the player character slightly taller but maybe it already looks fine in the game, but in my resolution 1600x1200 he looks too small.

How do you create those backgrounds? What tools do you use? What techniques?
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Damien on Sun 13/02/2005 22:04:37
Quotei've made the background using unrealed, then it was retouched and i've added some elements using paint shop pro.
There's your answer.

The amount of detail on new backgrounds is incredible.
Keep it up man.
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Nacho on Sun 13/02/2005 22:33:18
Dear Frederikazzo... You have a treasure in your hands, an style that produces quickly nice backgrounds. Keep the good work, it's simply amazing...

Bello Bello!!! Molto bello fondo!
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Kweepa on Sun 13/02/2005 22:41:37
Quote from: Farlander on Sun 13/02/2005 22:33:18
an style that produces quickly nice backgrounds.
I don't know - looks like a lot of work went into these backgrounds...

For the new first room, I agree that it looks a lot better - you've crammed a lot of new detail in there. In some ways I preferred the stark lighting of the original, but in some ways this lighting - it's more appropriate for an apartment I guess.

For the second, not much to criticize! I guess my big problem is the big blank matte tables at the front. They're crying out to reflect something (light spots perhaps).

In general, these backgrounds will need a lot of character scaling to work - that may or may not be a problem for you. At the back near the door, the character will probably look good at about 80%-90% size. But at the front, I'd say about 140%-150%.

Looks great!
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Federikazzo on Sun 13/02/2005 23:15:27
well... every background takes from 2 hours to up to one day of work (talking about effective time).
the hardest part is the resizing: i have to put the "camera" at a certain position, with a particular angulation, and then i have to test the obtained image hundred times to see if the resized version is good enough... ???

i am however thinking about using blender3d or 3dsmax, cos i have no control on how perspective works... and i don't think that anyone made a perspective mod for unreal..... ;D
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Snarky on Sun 13/02/2005 23:58:16
I don't know if you've made a conscious style decision to do one-point perspective backgrounds, but things often look more interesting with a less head-on point-of-view. Other than that, yeah it looks great!
Title: Re: first shot of my game...
Post by: Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens on Mon 14/02/2005 00:17:07
I am 'greatly' impressed by the sheer amount of effort you've put into these backgrounds.  Exceptional work by any standard, and certainly commercial quality.  Bravo.  If I didn't have the ATC millstone around my neck as well as my own game, I'd be happy to help you out with this project, but I just don't have the time.  Personally, though, I think you've done a fine job doctoring the Indy sprite, and I see no reason why you shouldn't use it as a template for all your characters (unless you want them larger).